Task 6 Preparation

1. Task 6 Preparation Yvette fisher

2. Initial ideas • Topic (issue) • Current issues (including audience preferences) • Audience • Competition • Budget • Proposal/treatment

3. Topic (issue) • Overpriced fares (public transport) • Stereotyping (teenagers, homosexuals etc.) • Abuse of power (by authorities) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgqxDNxyJJM)

4. Topic (issues) • Marijuana (should it be illegal?) • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ti3QAlKx10c • http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/panorama/4079668.stm • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4n5jbfAQh8

5. Topic (issue) • Sexism (social roles e.g.. women being expected to certain roles and men expected to do certain roles) • Discrimination towards being your own individual (tattoos piercings being a shade braver)

6. Audience preferences • (look at questionnaire results)

7. Audience media preferences • (programs, websites, magazines etc. media consumptions of the audience)

8. Audience • Of all ethnic groups and nationalities • England issue ( Primarily East Anglia/Essex regions) • Enjoy socialisingand enjoy night life • 70% males and 30% females • 16-45 year olds

9. Competition • Panorama (BBC) • http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006t14n • Dispatches (Channel 4) • http://www.channel4.com/programmes/dispatches/episode-guide • Exposure (ITV) • http://www.itv.com/news/topic/exposure/

10. Budget • Equipment (Cameras, tripods, boom mic) • logistics (make up, costumes, props) • Transport • Actors • Crew (camera operators, Editors, sound engineers, director, producer, script writer)

11. Final Idea The topic that I have chosen is whether or not Marijuana should be made legal or not. The reason I have chosen to tackle this topic is because smoking Marijuana is frowned upon and seen as a health hazard, when it has medicinal purposes and poses less risk of harm to those around, unlike smoking and drinking yet they have been made legal. I want to explore the idea of making Marijuana legal for certain circumstances, for example those who have medical problems and need Marijuana to ease the pain, such as cancer patients who experience unbearable amounts of pain. I also think that if people are going to smoke, would it not be a healthier option to choose a more natural based substance, so I would be getting opinions from doctors and psychiatrists who deal with these issues.

12. methodology The questionnaire helped me generate quantitative data for my research in order for me to be able to easily analyse the finding using graphs and charts. I decided to conduct a focus group in order to get more in-depth information about the thought of legalising Marijuana and if my current affairs programme would be good and why.

13. Audience Profiling 1 • I decided to ask 35% of females and 65% of males because stereotypically, men are more likely to want to watch a current affairs program about drugs. • I chose an age range of 16-46 years of ages, and mainly targeting those of a younger age from 16-25 because I think that is the age where drugs are more influential

14. Audience profiling 2 • I chose to target people that were either working or in education, these are the people who are more likely to get stressed and are more likely to have strong opinions on whether or not Marijuana should be made legal or not. They’d be more interested in the programme

15. Audience profiling 3 • My target audience were people of different nationalities because I wanted a broader audience appeal and because drugs are a universal issue, I thought it would be appropriate to not choose specific nationalities to focus on. • Multi cultural issue • Making more cultures aware of this

16. Media habits • I wanted to know what newspapers my target audience were more likely to buy, just to see the sort of interests they have. • class • Political views

17. Media habits 2 • The reason I wanted to research the current affairs programs my target audience were to watch, is to know who my biggest competition is, and find out how I could make my current affairs program better than the rest.

18. Basic thoughts of my current affairs program • People generally thought my current affairs programme idea was good even though some were not that keen on it (see focus group results for in-depth responses)

19. Focus group findings • “Everyone knows that marijuana should be made legal, so if a show can prove it then yeah it’s a great idea.” • “Marijuana should not be made legal end of.” • “It would be a good idea to have a programme investigating whether or not marijuana should be made legal because it could have useful implications, for example medical uses.” • “Marijuana is less harmful than smoking cigarettes so the sooner people realise it the better, so this current affairs programme is a good idea.”

20. Focus group findings 2 • “Marijuana is relaxing and there would be more chilled out people.” • “It has a very disgusting smell so why would anyone want to legaliseMarijuana.” • “depending on the circumstances, if it is used for leisure purposes on a daily basis then I disagree because that’s abuse of drugs, however if it is for medical uses then there should be no reason as to why it shouldn’t bemade legal. ”

21. Focus group • I found that people generally like the idea of looking into whether or not marijuana should be legalised, however the minority though that there would be no point in making it legal because of its smell and because some people would take advantage of the drug being legal and over use it.

22. Secondary research • http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-20648276 • http://news.sky.com/story/1023107/students-drug-professor-with-weed-brownie • http://news.sky.com/story/1022930/mps-reveal-plans-to-reform-drug-laws • http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/dec/10/david-cameron-commission-drugs-laws • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSrN2zIRwN8